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University Gears Up for Bike Plan

March 20, 2014

As part of its FY14 Work Plan, the University Council’s Facilities Committee has a goal of working with Penn’s Parking and Transportation Services to recommend a comprehensive bicycle communication plan for the campus, with a focus on safety, routes, construction detours, and parking for bikes on campus.

In response to this directive, the Bike Planning Committee, chaired by Brian Shaw, Director of Business Services which oversees Transportation, has been meeting monthly since last summer. This cross-division committee with representatives from the Divisions of Business Services (BSD), Facilities and Real Estate (FRES), Student Health Services (SHS), and Public Safety (DPS) has welcomed participation from students, bicycling enthusiasts, representatives from PennCycles and the University City District.

The Bike Planning Committee started with an inventory of such recent cycling improvements as the new bike repair stations at Chemistry and Pottruck, new campus bike corrals, relocation of the Walnut Street bike lane to the left side of the street, and new bike lanes on the South Street Bridge. The Committee tackled several new matters that needed attention, for example, revising the 20-year-old bicycle policy to address bike rack criteria, bike sharing locations, and how bicycles should be treated during construction projects. The committee identified the need for an official campus bicycle map, to communicate information that riders need to know such as the campus safe riding zones and restricted areas.

The communications plan now under development will be housed at a new Business Services-maintained web portal: www.upenn.edu/biking. It will consolidate bike information from multiple pages now in existence. The next steps are to obtain policy approval from senior leadership and presenting the draft communications plan. Future issues of Red and Blue on College Green will chronicle developments and the launch of the new campus biking portal

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